Glaive Attack

ADVOCACYARCHIVEINTRA-AGENCYMESSAGES

Last night an incident occurred near Cestulus that requires your attention. An official report is in the works, but I wanted to loop you in immediately.

Yesterday at 22:49 SET Jeff Klesko frantically commed local authorities in Jata about an impending Vanduul attack. Needless to say, they were skeptical as they’ve been continuously receiving false reports of Vanduul ever since the attack in Vega. So, while local authorities investigated the claim, they instructed Klesko to send specific coordinates, keep his distance from any enemies and, most importantly, to not engage. Unfortunately, he failed to follow that last directive.

Turns out that the “Vanduul attack” reported by Klesko consisted of a single Glaive-class ship. Not only that, it was one of those limited Human reproductions done by Esperia. This one was registered to Victor King, a Citizen from Ferron. By the time authorities had confirmed King’s reg-tags and had given it clearance to land, it was too late. Klesko engaged the Glaive just before it entered atmo above Jata and destroyed it.

After the incident, Klesko commed authorities to tell them the situation was resolved and even inquired about his reward for killing a Vanduul in UEE space. The local authorities told Klesko to land, so they could discuss the details. Only after they got him on the ground and into the office did they reveal what really happened. Reports are that he did not take the news well.

I just finished interviewing Klesko and got very little out of him. He’s young and in shock over the entire thing. Kid came here thinking he was a hero only to find out otherwise. I’d wager it’s the first time he used his ship’s weapons outside of Arena Commander.

We’re operating under the assumption that Victor King was piloting the ship, but are still working to recover the body. I have contacted the office in Ferron for help tracking down his family.

Considering the sensitive nature of the situation, I wanted to consult you on how to proceed regarding potential charges. Don’t want to go too hard or too soft at the kid, so I’d appreciate your guidance. There’s a chance for public backlash at either turn.

Keep Klesko detained without charges until we have more details. See if he’ll authorize you to access his comm log so we can determine if he received the message to not engage. If he refuses then prepare a warrant.

I’ll make sure one of our agents in Ferron visits the King family ASAP, so we can confirm who was piloting the ship.

Let’s keep the circle tight on this for the time being. Only essential personnel until we figure out how we want to handle this.

Last night an unfortunate incident occurred in Davien. A young, overly-patriotic pilot (Jeff Klesko) shot down a Human reproduction of a Glaive-class ship after mistaking it for an actual Vanduul. Luckily, my SAC was conscious of how this story might play in the public and has held off on filing charges until we’ve had a chance to think it through.

The Glaive was registered to a Victor King from Asura, but we still need to confirm who was piloting the ship. Do you have a trusted team member in Ferron who could pay a visit to the family?

I don’t want this to turn into a PR nightmare for us so I’ve attached all the relevant information. Please give it a read and pass along your general impressions. We can only hold Klesko so long before we have to bring charges.

The King family has been notified of the incident. Victor King, the legal owner of the ship, was at their residence in Asura and not piloting the ship when it was shot down. According to the family, their son Jasper King (PersonalFile# OH8_31877_416) took the Glaive on a business trip to Jata. The family has no shortage of ships registered to them, but that one was his favorite. Attempts to persuade him to take another spacecraft were obviously unsuccessful.

My agents kept details to a minimum but the family requested constant updates about our investigation. Please keep me informed on further developments so we can relay them to the family. My review of their file revealed that they’re old mining money that has long been involved in politics. Problems could arise if they feel stonewalled. It might even drive them to make noise in the press. The information is going to get to them no matter what, so it’s better they hear it from us.

Regards,David GolovkinAssistant Director – Office of Public AffairsOffice of the Advocacy – Earth

Unfortunately, there’s little doubt as to what occurred. Now it’s just a matter of how to handle it.

Just for sake of argument, let’s say we decide to soft-pedal charges on Klesko. Maybe manslaughter to ensure there’s no chance he’ll serve time on QuarterDeck. The kid obviously made a horrible mistake, but given the circumstances it’s easy to see why he acted the way he did.

If we go that route, do you think the family might use their connections to put up a fight?

Wish I could say, but it’s hard to predict how a family will react to such a tragic event.

In my opinion, what Jasper did was dumb and insensitive, but not illegal. Short of the Imperator himself passing a decree to temporarily ground all Human-compatible Glaives, people have the right to fly them anywhere in the Empire. It’s something I personally find distasteful, but it’s still worthy of our protection.

As much as I understand why Klesko did what he did, I worry about the message we’d be sending to trigger-happy Citizens and civilians if he got off too easy. Shoot first and ask questions later is not a good position for us. Treating this case as such might be easier in the short term but could cause more problems down the road.

My personal thoughts aside, I will fully support whatever position you take on the matter.

David GolovkinAssistant Director – Office of Public AffairsOffice of the Advocacy – Earth

As always, I appreciate your candor on the issue. I’d prefer if we could avoid having this unfortunate incident completely destroy a second young life. Time spent on QuarterDeck won’t make things better for either Klesko or for Jasper King’s memory.

With that in mind, I will instruct my SAC to file manslaughter charges against Klesko. If my decision comes back to haunt us, I’m prepared to take the full brunt of the blame. Just another one of the many perks of being SC.

Will give you the heads up before we officially file the charges. That way your agents can be the ones to relay the information to the King family and monitor their reactions.